#29: Mary Tidlund - Risk, Recovery & Reinvention, Part 2

Mary explained her rock bottom moment as losing the oil and gas company she helped build from the bottom up. Going bankrupt became one of her biggest and hardest business and life lesson. She recalled the pain of losing her identity, laying off people, and losing what she had created.

Mary described how she turned around and looked for positives in the negative to move forward. She used her skills in raising money and traveling to put programs together and started giving back. Mary dove into the topic of what she would have done differently given the chance to be a CEO of her company again. She advised young CEOs to learn and understand their company’s financial management and managers to avoid going bankrupt while leading fast-paced companies.

The challenge of coming from a privileged society is being able to understand that philanthropy is about meeting people where they are and not where you want. Mary learned to groom volunteers to handle life where they were taking philanthropy and when they came back to their lives. She learned to give to the donors an equal exchange of what they were giving by getting them engaged in the philanthropic programs. She learned to listen and meet people where they are to navigate other cultures and help where she could.

Philanthropy involves asking for help and Mary found out that people like to help others and feel connected, so she provided a safe space for people to do that. Leaders find it challenging to manage people and navigate ideas. They should therefore employ practices like meditation for quiet time to focus and be grounded. It is important to stay centered and authentic to keep growing with your business and values.

To become an authentic leader, you have to find what brings you joy, identify the values of that, and follow it.